About Us

The Pierce Investment Company formed the District in 1910.  The original area was platted in ten-acre tracts bounded by Union Road on the east, Eighth Avenue on the north, and Sixteenth Avenue on the south, plus a ten-acre parcel along University Road between Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue.  This parcel was part of the District from the beginning because it was the Pierce homesite.   Originally, each ten-acre tract was issued one share in the Model Water and Light Company.  At that time, the Water Company provided one domestic and one irrigation service to the property line of a ten-acre tract, and connection became the owner’s responsibility from that point.

The system was served by a hand-dug well (Well No.1), which is located at Pierce Road and Fifteenth Avenue. The water system consisted of 4-inch calamine pipes, invasion tubes, and mostly steel pipe with some 1.5-inch and 2-inch galvanized lines. These used calamine lines were purchased from the City of Spokane when they city upgraded their lines to cast iron.  All of the calamine and invasion tube lines have been replaced.

The original irrigation system’s lines were concrete tiles with a lower pressure than the domestic water lines.  All of the older irrigation lines have been replaced.   During the 1930’s, the lighting portion of the company did not generate sufficient revenue to remain in operation.  The Washington Water Power Company (W.W.P. Co.) took over the electrical portion of the District.  W.W.P. Co. is now Avista Company.

On December 15, 1952, Model Water and Light Company was organized into Model Irrigation District No. 18.  In April of 1961, the Irrigation District expanded.  It took over Kokomo Water District No. 7 With the annexation of Kokomo Water District No. 7, district boundaries increased south from 16^th Avenue to 32^nd Avenue.  University Road was still the western boundary and Bowdish Road the eastern boundary.   Since the consolidation with Kokomo Water District No. 7 in 1961, the District has annexed various properties between University Road on the west to Bowdish Road on the east, and from 32^nd Avenue to 40^th Avenue. The annexation of Midilome Addition, located in the NW ¼ of Section 33, occurred in 1976.  It is bound by Bowdish Road on the west,State Route Highway #27, on the East, 32^nd Avenue on the north, and 40^th Avenue on the south.

Notes by Superintendent Jim Lahde: Since my start in 1984, the district has made funds available to make repairs, replace and rebuild the distribution system. The District’s intent was to improve service and reduce costs, which improved conservation of our resources.  The District has spent $2.5 million on infrastructure and another $300,000 to maintain and paint water storage tanks and buildings.

The goal, which has always been a high-priority for the District, was to locate unaccounted for water.  We have water meters on all service lines, and the source meters are rebuilt every 10 years. We also regularly investigate and test meters with high use. The leaks we find in our system have been reduced with the installation of new water mains and water services. The District has also been pro-active about finding and repairing leaks.   As superintendent, it is my firm belief, that a pro-active maintenance program saves money and water loss.

The District’s  SCDA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system.  This system uses radio frequencies to communicate with a main computer. The pump status and water levels in the storage tanks are monitored by a computer, and operators will be able to receive alarms or change parameters through their new cell phones, which work like laptop computers.   With this new system, share funded by the Water 2025 Grant, Model will meet the challenge to conserve the areas precious resource, your drinking water.

Our old office was built in 1962 with very little insulation, making it difficult to keep it comfortable with heating and cooling issues.  With three employees, computers systems, and board meetings, we were out of space.

The new office building had been a goal of the board for a long time.  It took several years to plan, design, make decisions, and install new infrastructure for our building to meet our current needs while keeping the future in mind as well.  One exciting fact about the project is that we were able to use our cash reserves to finance the entire building and site improvements